The present invention is directed to a gas laser having a jacket tube with a capillary extending coaxially within the jacket tube and being supported within the jacket tube in a radial direction by at least one resilient means, including a spring washer having an axial proximate annular region and resilient fingers extending therefrom in a radial direction, said resilient fingers pressing against the jacket tube and the axially proximate annular region having an axially symmetrical aperture through which the capillary extends, and glass solder being used to secure the resilient means in position on the capillary.
A gas laser having a jacket with a capillary secured at one end in the jacket and extending coaxially therein supported by a spring washer which has an axial aperture receiving the capillary and radially extending fingers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,959, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference thereto and which claims priority from the European Patent Application which was published on Sep. 5, 1990 as European Published Application 0 384 933. The joining of the spring washer to the capillary via a glass solder enables a far-reaching, stress-free support of the capillary. However, in practice, spring properties of the spring washer can be negatively influenced by the presence of the glass solder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,330, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference thereto, discloses a support of a capillary with a spring washer that has elastic fingers in the region of the capillary and also in the region of the jacket tube. As a result of the unavoidable manufacturing tolerances, this embodiment does not enable a stress-free bearing of the capillary.